This man was a ninja Jiraiya met during his journey to find his disciple. In the anime, the Asura Path was shown to be a wandering puppeteer with insight to the world. His body was used by Nagato years later as the Asura Path.

Contents

Appearance

The man was tall, bald with an unusual body shape, possessing a very thick neck, no ears and a large jaw. He also had part of his face obscured by a rice hat in the anime, possibly hiding a headband that had not been shown in the manga, as Jiraiya quickly discovered that he was a ninja. The Asura Path's unnamed puppet was made to look like a baby, and was capable of emitting infantile cries.

Asura Path's body belonged to a tall, bald man with an unusual body shape, possessing a very thick neck, no ears and a large jaw. The Asura Path, like all of the Six Paths, possessed Nagato's Rinnegan. It was the only body to not have orange hair, simply because it had no hair at all. It had a vertical ring piercing on its nose, six spike studs all around its head, three studs on the top and bottom of each of its six arms, an enormous cylindrical stud on its chin, and two vertical studs on each of its upper cheeks. The body had three faces, each with a different expression, and two of which appeared from the sides of its head only when it removed its cloak in a fight: happy (its normal face), angry, and neutral. It also had a long, saw-like "tail" which stretched from his back over his head.

In addition to its immense offensive power, the Asura Path's body was incredibly resilient to damage. It survived the detonation of a Lightning Release Shadow Clone, a massive punch from Chōza Akimichi, and a direct hit from Kakashi's Lightning Cutter. When weakened but not completely disabled, the Asura Path was still dangerous. Kakashi noted that he did not have enough chakra or stamina to completely destroy its body and it wasn't until Naruto attacked it with a Rasengan while in Sage Mode that it was rendered totally incapacitated. Despite being used frequently to provide heavy firepower, the Asura Path was readily sacrificed to protect the even more powerful Deva Path, acting as a human shield against Kakashi's Lightning Cutter.

Part II

Itachi Pursuit Arc

The Asura Path made its début, after Jiraiya had defeated the Human, Animal and Preta Paths reminding Jiraiya that he was told never to let his guard down. With that it dealt a devastating blow to the Sannin, ripping his arm off in the process. Together with the other Six Paths of Pain, it was able to ultimately kill Jiraiya.

Invasion of Pain Arc

Asura Path destroyed by Naruto.

During the invasion of Konohagakure orchestrated by Nagato, the Asura Path launched the new Animal Path through Konoha's barrier and was summoned into the village shortly afterwards. Assigned to create diversions, the Asura Path launched several missiles and laser-like beams, destroying the village's infrastructure. Later when the Deva Path confronts Kakashi Hatake, the Asura aids it is fighting the shinobi revealing it's true form and running through Kakashi with its tail. Revealed to be a Lightning Release Shadow Clone, the Asura Path is temporarily paralysed by the discharge of lightning that the clone gave off before disappearing. This gave Chōza Akimichi enough time to seemingly decommission the Path, crushing it underneath his gigantic hand. As the battle ensues the Asura uses its mangled body to form a makeshift shield between Kakashi's Lightning Cutter and the Deva Path and later as Chōji escapes with intel on the Deva Path, the Asura is able to fire off a single missile before falling to pieces. The Asura Path briefly rejoins the bray, being restored by the Naraka Path after the Deva Path levels Konoha, but is quickly defeated by Naruto when attempting to strike Tsunade.